The transmission of data is typically required in integrated circuits and electronic systems. However, for a variety of reasons, data may become corrupted during the transmission. While the accurate transmission of data is important in most systems, the transmission of corrupted data may significantly impact the performance of an integrated circuit. In some instances, corrupted data stored in the integrated circuit may render the integrated circuit unusable until the correct data is restored in the memory. Accordingly, steps are often taken to ensure that data is properly stored in a memory of an integrated circuit. For example, data may be read back to check for errors.
Error checking may include both error detection and error correction in the case of a single error, or error detection without error correction in the case of multiple errors. For example, forward error-correction is a type of signal processing that improves data reliability by introducing a known structure into a data sequence prior to transmission or storage of the data sequence. This known structure enables a receiving system to detect and possibly correct errors caused by corruption in the data transmission channel or the receiver. This coding technique enables the decoder to correct errors without requesting retransmission of the original information. However, techniques such as forward error correction may be difficult to implement efficiently and may result in significant limitations when implemented in an integrated circuit.